Mass Effect: Continuity
by Shadow Quickpaw
Summary: In the interest of speculation and time consumption I present an account of the Mass Effect story told from the perspective of a fan who suddenly finds himself on Eden Prime during Sovereign's first offensive against organic life.
1. Holy explative, Commander!

**This is my first try at writing anything for an audience, so bear with me (within reason of course: If I'm terrible, just tell me).**

**I'm sure many of us have dreamed of what it would be like to live in our favorite fictional world. Here, I speculate how I would react being transported into the "Mass Effect: universe.**

**Commander's Stats: Paragon Joseph Shepard with dark skin, black hair, green eyes. Romance=Ashley. Class="Vanguard". Armor color=Dark Blue and black. Will throw in a renegade interrupt or two in that I could never resist.**

**Personal Stats: Conner Donovan (pardon the alias), brown hair, light skin, brown eyes. Skills: Former Jazz trumpeter and media enthusiast, eventual hyper-Sentinel with a Stealth field generator and a modded M-96 Mattock. Romance:Tali?...**

Frack. Kark. Hell. Crap. No friggin' way.

No combination of those words adequately describes what is going through my head right now. I mean, how exactly am I supposed to feel? I'm not a fighter. I'm the farthest thing from a soldier or warrior it's possible to be while still being human.

That's not to say I haven't _fantasized _about it, hell most of my free time is spent imagining how cool it would be if I _was _a great hero. Still… Until yesterday (or thereabouts; I haven't really been checking how much time has passed) I hadn't even thrown a punch in anger in my life (though I've _been _punched many times)…

And in the span of a few hours I've been shot at, shot down, been blown across creation (literally), had my perception of reality _completely _upended, and I'm supposed to: "suck it up, Marine?" I just survived a crash landing in a fighter I don't know how to fly, being ejected into a whole other plane of existence (**forget **planet), and almost had my ass shot off by Geth! **GETH. G. E. T. H.**

_Man _I don't even _know _where my head is at the moment. Well, maybe a better introduction is in order; I just had to get that off my chest.

To clarify: Yes, I am a bit of a Bioware junky… at least from Kotor onward. That's what I was listening to on my way home, coincidentally. The soundtrack from Mass Effect Three blared through the speakers of my 1999 Ford Taurus as I drove back home from my Sophomore year in college.

I was tapping the wheel, enjoying myself quite thoroughly with all my stuff in the backseat. Mass Effect 3's terrible ending still fresh in my mind (having played through most of my ME2 save transfers already), I glanced at the rear-view mirror and noticed the semi behind me swerving a mite too close for my level of ease.

I put my foot on the gas a little and eyed the big truck apprehensively. And because I was watching _it_, I wasn't watching the road.

Or rather, the _lack _of road in front of me.

The both of us careened into the detour sign with a screech of brakes and tortured metal. I threw up my hands and yelled as the semi smashed into my fender and sent us crashing into the washed-out ditch. Suddenly a bright flash of light blinded me for a split second…

When I could see again, the enormous bulk of Sovereign was looming large in the windshield. Or what I _assumed _was a windshield at the time.

"Holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

I screamed again and yanked the steering wheel over. Except that it isn't a steering wheel. It's a pilot throttle. Of an F-61 Alliance Trident fighter. This doesn't occur to me at first of course, since I'm a bit preoccupied by the fact that I'm hanging in the air _right next to a Reaper._

Luckily I manage to turn the fighter in the right direction: _away _from Sovereign. Unluckily, I have no idea how to pilot one of these.

So naturally I end up flying smack dab into a squadron of airborne Geth in fighters of their own.

Which does _not _improve my mood one jot. And neither does the beam of plasma arching above my head.

I yell many things I shan't write down (to avoid offending sensitive sensibilities) while I try to figure out what the heck is going on with the universe. My only consolation is that the fighter's controls are physically similar enough to an Xbox 360 flight-sim controller that I can still direct my course… at least generally.

This does _not, _unfortunately, give me any advantage when I'm surrounded by Geth Heretics and have a gudam _Reaper_ on my tail.

Speaking of which…

The plasma beam hits its mark on the port side of my fighter and sends me into a tail-spin. Leaving aside the fact _I somehow know what a tailspin is, _I desperately look for any indicator of an eject button. And the system alarms blaring in my ears are _not _helping.

After what seems like years of being flung about-that makes the word _vertigo _look like the grossest understatement in existence-my fighter hits a cliffside and smashes into the ground. It skids for a second or two whilst I get quite a few bruises (mainly on the head: the seat belt doesn't seem to be doing much to prevent that), and finally comes to a stop in a blaze of smoke and rocks.

I take a second to try and get my bearings (emphasis on _try_), but eventually the heat and smoke pouring into the cockpit convinces me that staying where I am is not the best course of action. My grip on the controls is akin to death, but I eventually manage to pry my fingers off and reach down to unbuckle.

And bang my elbow on the previously mentioned _eject _button.

The seat shoots me up through the canopy of the fighter just as I undo the restraints. After tumbling several meters away from the fighter I end up flat on my face in the grass, the pilot's seat growing a late parachute behind me.

"Ow."

I don't think I've mentioned that I don't handle pain very well at this point. I feel very much like a human version of Wiley Coyote after another failed supper-grab. Barely able to move I color the air with a series of curses that would make a _Hangover _fan wince. This prompts one of the armored figures approaching me to whistle appreciatively and remark "Wow. Haven't heard a mouth like that since my days in _BOT._"

Somehow I raise my head a little to stare in shock at the man who spoke with Carth Onasi's voice. I leverage myself onto an elbow and promptly fall flat on my face again. Carth's voice-double interjects once more.

"Shepard, he's hurt bad."

"I can see that, Lieutenant."

_Shepard? How…_

I roll onto my back with a grunt of pain and stare, open mouthed at the three soldiers standing over me. Each wears the trademark Onyx black and red armor of Alliance marines. One still has his weapon out, the "Carth voice" appears to be scanning me with an omnitool, and the third…

The third reaches down, a concerned expression on his face.

"Easy there, soldier. You okay?"

"Who… what, how…" I manage to sputter when he helps me into a sitting position.

"We're Alliance Naval Marines. My name is Commander Shepard.

_Commander Shepard. No Friggin' way…_

**There it is. Any thoughts at all would be most welcome. This (being the introductory) is a little disconnected with the pov, but I'll steady it out in the next chapter (if there is one)**


	2. Denial

**Well, at least ONE person likes my first try, (possibly two :) ) and that's motivation to keep writing. As you can see I cleaned up the pov and am now trying to be consistant with the forwards and overall length. Updates will likely be slightly eratic while I accustom myself to writing for an audience instead of just for myself.**

* * *

Eden Prime

_This isn't possible, _I kept telling myself. _This can't be real. I'm dreaming; Yes, that's it! I HAVE to be dreaming!_

But reality seldom listens to inner monologues. I backpedaled furiously away from Shepard's hand, trying to sort out my surroundings (_trying_ being the operative word). Kaiden (I finally remembered his name) placed a cautionary hand on Shepard's shoulder when he tried to follow me.

"Careful, Shepard. He's confused."

_Why does that sound familiar? _I gingerly scrambled to my feet, holding my side in what I would recognize later as the "injured" animation. I then hit myself multiple times in a vain attempt to wake up. Jenkins piped up when gunshots were heard over the hillside.

"Commander, we can't afford to waste time here; we have to get moving!"

I couldn't think straight. I was panicked. So I did (panic, that is), and ran off in what I hoped was the opposite direction of the gunfire. Behind me I head Shepard curse and order Jenkins to take point while he and Kaiden followed.

I-on the other hand-was composed barely enough to **not **scream like a little girl. Had I been thinking at _all, _I would have immediately recognized the area and not run around a certain corner… with a blocked line of sight.

So naturally I ran head on into the sights of the first enemies Shepard and his team would encounter: _Geth drones._

This time I **did **scream like a little girl, and my body froze; just in time for my foot to hit a rock and send me falling flat onto my backside for the second time in as many minutes.

Which saved my life. Unfortunately Jenkins (who had been following close behind me) now was forced to take the brunt of the drones' fire, his shields overloading in seconds, and his armor failing in less than that.

Shepard and Kaiden roared in fury, firing their weapons in an almost godlike precision that tore through the drones faster than they could counter. This gave me enough time (shocking me into survival mode instead of panic mode) to find a boulder to crouch behind. I glanced around at the colony I now understood was Eden Prime, realizing we were very close to that Prothean dig site.

This distracted me long enough for the one drone Jenkins's comrades had missed to float around my cover and zone its sites on my forehead. I yelled again, throwing my hands up in a pitiful attempt to block the shots I **knew **were coming…

Except that my "attempt" wasn't so pitiful, after all.

The shots were fired, but they never hit their mark. My eyes were tightly shut at the time, so I didn't immediately understand what was happening. I worked up the courage to inch one eye open and what I saw…

A glowing, bluish-purple field surrounded me on all sides, repelling the drone's bullets as easily as bugs on a windshield. A domed biotic barrier was protecting me, and _I _was the one generating it. I didn't quite believe it until I noticed my body wreathed in the same energy that kept my sorry rear from meeting an early grave.

Bad news first: I had never generated biotics before, and I could already feel my strength ebbing fast from the constant barrage the barrier was enduring. I wasn't going to be able to keep this up for long.

But the good news came a second later in a blaze of bullets; I had help. Yes, I'm not ashamed to admit I needed help. The drone attacking me was scrap in record time, and I ran out of energy in the same instant. I put my hands on my knees and tried to catch my breath when Shepard took off his helmet and approached me, signaling Kaiden to keep watch.

"Where's your weapon, soldier?"

I barely heard him through the roaring in my ears. Jenkins lay on the rocky ground, eyes wide open. I knew he was dead, but my mind still couldn't accept this as real.

_No, no no nonononono. Just wake up, you idiot! _I pinched myself hard. Nothing. I shook myself and tried to feel the metal springs of the bed I was _certain _I was lying in. Still nothing. Shepard finally lost his patience and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Suck it up, marine. Where. Is. Your. Weapon?"

"Must be a civilian, Commander," Kaiden said over his shoulder. "Probably in shock."

"Civilians don't fly Alliance Tridents." Shepard said flatly. "Nor do they throw out barriers like that."

"Neither do I," I say in a very small voice.

"Really." Shepard stated sarcastically, looking me up and down. "What was that you just did then?"

"You're asking _me?_" I blurted out. "I've never used biotics in my life! I shouldn't be here, not _two seconds ago _I was…"

_The crash. I crashed. _That_ was real. Am I dead, then? No, I hurt. That means I'm obviously not in heaven. But I don't hurt all over, so just as obviously I'm not in the _other_ place._

"You were what? Do you know where you are?"

"Eden Prime," I say before I can stop myself. Then it hit me. _I'm on _Eden Prime_. _Then _I _hit me. "This is real... this _can't _be real."

"Believe me kid. It's real." I looked up at Shepard. And proceeded to gape at the fact that he was _my Shepard. _The Shepard I created years ago the first time I put the game into my Xbox. His eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"It's…you're… no," I stammered out helplessly. "_Commander Shepard? _Born on Mindoir, Hero of Elysium, elite N7 operative-"

"Whoa, there slow down." Shepard took a step back. "How do you know so much about me?"

"You… you wouldn't believe me." I chuckled weakly. "Hell: **I **wouldn't believe me."

"Oh? You'd be surprised…" He raised his omnitool and scanned me. "Corporal Donovan."

_That _got my attention. "'Corporal?' What are you… Wait a minute, how do you know my name?"

"It's in your extranet service record," Shepard said with a puzzled look. He began reading off said record: "Corporal Conner Donovan, Ascension Project graduate, born on Earth, enlisted in Eden Prime's Colonial Defense force 2181 after receiving top marks in combat tech and biotics-"

"That's… _What? _Top **tech **marks_? _I wouldn't know an ezo core from an omnitool! Where are you _getting _all this?" I grabbed Shepard's arm to see the info crawling across his screen.

"Hey, hey, look it up yourself. Check your own omnitool."

"I don't have one."

"Yes you do, here," Shepard pressed another button, and the signature bright orange glove of an omnitool appeared around my left arm. I yelped and jumped almost a foot into the air.

"You _really_ don't remember any of that," he asked when I couldn't take my eyes off the device sprouting from my wrist."

"How do you… work this thing," I breathed, completely nonplussed.

"And the fact you're wearing an Alliance flight suit?"

"Am I?" I jumped again when I realized he spoke the truth. Kaidan interjected urgently:

"Shepard, we _really _don't have time for this. We have to get to the"-

"Prothean Beacon."

They both stared at me. My brain caught up with my mouth a second later, and I groaned. "The… Oh crap." I covered my face.

"I'm going to assume the reason you know about that," Shepard started slowly.

"Is the same reason I know who you are, yes." I finish. "Like I said, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." I took a deep breath. "The only things that record has right are my name and my… homeworld."

"… So?" Shepard folded his arms and cocked an eyebrow, waiting for my answer.

_He's going to love this._

"I _was_ born on Earth. Just… in a small midwestern town, _in the early 1990s._"

"Uh huh." Shepard raised the other eyebrow and gestured back to the crashed Trident. "Do you remember how you got into that? Or how you crashed it?" He spoke slowly and deliberately.

_Great. He thinks I'm… _"I know how this sounds, Commander. I'm not crazy, I'm not slow, and _apparently" _I looked around at the Eden Prime settlement. "I'm not dreaming either."

"_Commander!" _Kaidan interrupted again.

"I'm on it! All right," Shepard turned back to me. "I'm not even going to ask how you know so much despite being 'from the past.' We're on a mission to recover that beacon." He fixed me with his gaze. "Can you help us?"

I willed my heart to stop pounding hard enough to drown out my thoughts (such as they were). When I could trust my voice, I considered all my options. 1: sticking with Shepard was statistically the best way to stay alive long enough to figure this out. 2: Shepard was one of the few people who wouldn't try to exploit my knowledge (once he found out). 3: Shepard didn't know his way around the colony; I did.

"I don't know where the Beacon is," I said. Shepard turned away in exasperation. "But I do know how to get to someone who does," I continued. I knew that time was running out for a certain gunnery Chief, so I hurried on.

"I appreciate you two saving my life, Commander. I'll help however I can." I saluted him as befitted a Corporal (as I apparently was) to a Commander. "I just want to say in advance, despite that record, I have no combat experience." I hung my head a little.

"We'll see." Shepard studied my face shrewdly, then took out his pistol and handed it to me. "Follow my lead, don't be an idiot, and you should live to see tomorrow."

"Absolutely on the first, not so tight on the second," I joked. Shepard glared at me until I raised my hands saying "Sorry, bad time." I glance over at Jenkins' body, hating my guts. "I'm sorry about him."

"Don't blame yourself. Blame the drones." Shepard and Kaidan walked over to examine Jenkins'. Kaidan closed the dead marine's eyes with the familiar "Ripped right through his shields. Never had a chance."

Shepard gazed sadly down at his former comrade. "We'll see that he receives a proper ceremony once this mission is complete." I blinked, recognizing the paragon response. This _was _the Shepard I played! "But I need you two to stay focused." I blinked again. _'Two?' That wasn't how… oh right. _I mentally kicked myself and examined the pistol Shepard gave me to make sure I wasn't going to shoot myself.

"Aye aye, sir." We were back to the "script," evidently. Kaidan looked over at me with an unreadable expression. "Come on, Corporal."

"Yeah, Kai… sorry, Lieutenant Alenko sir." I decided to follow the few regs I knew of for the moment. Being too familiar with military operatives would probably get my ass kicked.

"Lead the way, Donovan." Shepard nodded up the path, pulling out a shotgun while Kaidan readied an assault rifle. I took a steadying breath then walked up the path up to some trees. I knew we had a few drones yet between us and the next cutscene (for lack of a better word), so I went cautiously, ducking behind cover where I could and checking my pistol's ladar constantly.

I counted myself lucky that before being yanked from my home dimension I had looked over the Mass Effect wiki a few times, so I knew at least half the jargon associated with Alliance military. The M-3 Predator Shepard had given me wasn't standard issue, but I knew how to pull a trigger (since I didn't have to worry about thermal clips yet).

I stayed out of Shepard and Kaidan's way when drones tried to ambush us further along the path. But of course, _somehow _the drones recognized my inexperience and focused most of their fire on me.

I kept in cover while the other two focused on taking the drones out and popped out only once to fire at the last drone. Which promptly exploded from the one bullet I fired. I gaped in surprise, whispering "Sheesh."

"You sure you have no combat experience, kid?" Shepard asked me, sounding amused.

"Uh… I have the rifle and archery merit badges," I stammered helpfully.

"Great," Kaidan said, rolling his eyes. "A glorified boy scout."

"He's doing the best he can, Kaidan." Shepard admonished him. Kaidan relented, giving me an appraising look. "Eagle Scout, actually," I told him nervously.

We forged ahead, taking out more drones in the process. I surprised myself again with my accuracy several times… though this may have had something to do with unlimited ammunition. I didn't have to worry about wasting a shot, though I tried to make them count.

Soon enough we heard more gunfire ahead of us, and our first glimpse of Dragon's Teeth. I focused on the Geth units advancing on us until one of them overheated my pistol. I ducked behind a rock, swearing. I had the bright idea to try throwing one of the rocks at them with biotics. It worked; sort of. It distracted the Geth in question long enough to have its head blown off by Shepard's shotgun.

This of course left me breathless and worn out. I tried to get back into cover, but one of the remaining Geth got close enough to hammer me in the gut with its rifle. I collapsed from the pain and rolled over onto my back to find myself staring down the barrel of a Geth Pulse rifle. I looked up at it, couldn't move, couldn't even breath until: "Stay down!"

Rifle bullets tore into the Geth, and when it turned to face this new threat I pulled up my pistol and nailed it right in the eye. Then there was silence. I got clumsily to my feet and caught sight of the impaled humans on the teeth. Which made me lose any control over my stomach I had been lucky to maintain. When my lunch finished decorating the ground I whiped my mouth and nearly jumped out of my skin when a human woman in pink and white armor patted me sympathetically on the back and turned back to the Commander and Alenko.

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge here sir?"

* * *

**If the cliff-hanger style endings bother anyone I'll try to adjust. I appreciate anyone who reads and-or comments on these (negatively as much as positively). Eventually I'll have to stop playing ME3 and go back to ME1 to make sure I stay true to the dialogue and such (youtube is a big help). Hopefully I'll be able to keep this going long enough to make it to the end of 3. Hopefully being the key word...**


	3. Regarding Glowy Objects

**I apologise for the delay, folks. College assumed direct control for a bit. Enjoy (or not) as it pleases, and any feedback is welcome. I'll just be over here... y'know, not touching anything.**

* * *

Prothean Ruins: Eden Prime

_That went well. I think… _I thought to myself as Ashley lead the Commander, Kaidan and I through the smoking ruins of the Prothean dig site where the colonists had unearthed the beacon we were all here for. Except for me, of course. I was still just trying to wrap my head around reality.

Ashley had explained her situation to us: the ambush, the loss of her team, and what little she knew of the Geth's history (I kept my mouth firmly sewn shut the whole time). I fully expected for one of the three soldiers to try to get me to seek shelter somewhere safe, but to my surprise Shepard motioned me to follow. So I tagged along behind, making sure we didn't have any Geth sneaking up on us.

Ashley sniped the head off of one Geth who chose the wrong time to peek over its cover, then threw a sidelong look at me.

"So… time-traveler, hmmmmm?" She said in a voice loaded with skepticism.

"Makes about as much sense to me as it does to you," I replied wearily (literally; I was quickly running out of steam due in part to the pace the three were setting and my increasingly infrequent biotic usage). "I have absolutely **no **clue how it works. I feel like I'm in a _Doctor Who _episode."

"You watch _Doctor Who?_"

"A bit when I was a teenager. Still trying to get used to David Tenant as the Doctor."

"Wow. That _is _a century ago. Either you're a damn good liar, or you really _are _from the past."

"Quite down back there," Shepard whispered at us.

"Sorry," I whispered back with a grimace.

"How much further to the spaceport, Williams?" We were coming up to a small collection of pre-fabricated buildings.

"Just past this clearing and down the hill."

Nihlus's voice suddenly broke over the calm: "I'm headed toward the spaceport, Shepard. There're a lot of bodies."

"I know, we're seeing the same thing," Shepard answered, placing a hand on his ear. "Chief Williams of the 212 is leading us to your location, we'll meet you there."

"Copy Commander. But something smells off here; be careful."

"Roger that. Shepard out." Shepard motioned us past the ruins and up a ramp to the pre-fab units. I nervously glanced over at the impaled husks on the left.

"Uh… Commander?"

"What is it, Donovan?"

"Are those things supposed to be moving?" I may have jumped the gun a little, but we leveled our weapons at the teeth in the same moment they retracted, spilling their undead burdens onto the ground.

"What the hell," Ashley cursed and fired a few rounds into the husks as they tried to get back to their feet. It soon became clear that there were far more than just these, and we engaged in a pitched-if one sided-battle, standing back to back.

It was just as well my stomach had already emptied itself. The husks' smell was overpoweringly fowl, though few came within arm's reach. Sweat poured down my arm and into my eyes as I fired again and again.

The waves of creatures finally stopped, their bodies littering the ground around us like some sort of macabre mosaic. Shepard spat on one of them and wiped husk blood off his face while Kaidan and Ashley crouched down to examine it.

"What did the Geth _do _to them? Are these things human?" Ashley grimaced and jerked the husk's head from side to side with her rifle.

"They _were _human." I drew a ragged breath. "Now… they're more dead than alive. Tools, to be used then thrown away once they have no more value." I covered my mouth and a sour taste forced its way into the back of my throat.

Shepard glared at me for a second. "So what are they now?" He took a step toward me, a menacing expression on his face. "No cock'n bull story. What. Are. They."

I considered what I should tell him. This was, after all, the first time the organic races would encounter the Reapers' minions and live to tell of it. I finally decided that Shepard was going to find out anyway, so I replied:

"They're called _husks._ Dead bodies reanimated by cybernetic implants they get from those spikes." I was still bent double, trying to convince my stomach that it didn't have anything left in it to exhume.

"Right." Shepard surveyed the husks fallen bodies and nodded decisively. "Then killing them now is more a mercy than anything else." He motioned to us. "In any case, there's nothing we can do for them now. We have to keep moving."

"Just don't let them get too close," I called ahead when the four of us headed toward the pre-fab units. "They can emit an electrical pulse that will overload our shields."

"Uh huh. At some point, you and I are going to have _a talk._"

"Yeah; I know, Commander." I gulped nervously, not looking forward to that conversation one bit.

"Shepard, I'm getting life signs from these pre-fabs," Kaidan whispered.

After breaking through the locks on the prefab door and reassuring the two scientists that they were safe for the moment (me trying not to listen to the jittery apocalyptic predictions from the unstable one), we continued down the path until Nihlus's voice came again over Shepard's comm unit.

"I'm at the Spaceport, Commander, had to sneak past some Geth. I'll wait for… hold on, someone's coming-"

"Nihlus? Nihlus! Come in!" Shepard and Kaidan exchanged a worried glance and steadied their weapons. I held my breath, knowing full well what was going on at the spaceport. Sure enough, about 30 seconds after Nihlus cut out, a pistol shot echoed across the field.

"Damn it! All right, double-time it people! I want us at the spaceport yesterday!" Shepard barked, breaking into a run. We only had time for a hurried "Yes sir" before we too sprinted forward.

Then we saw it. Sovereign. The _Reaper. _An enormous ship with tentacles and lasers. The one that had shot me down in the first place. The vanguard of the Reapers' harvesting cycle. I was the only one who knew any of this, obviously, and I kept my reaction low-key while Kaidan and Ashley exclaimed in surprise and dismay.

So I was the only one who was looking in front of us when we were spotted by the Geth guarding the spaceport. I ducked behind the lip of the landing pad as we were once again set upon by angry Geth and vicious husks. Shepard and his team had the situation well in hand, but as usual there is always that _one _snag that manages to sneak past the best defenses ("best" being a very flexible word at this point: I had no shields, and keeping any sort of effective barrier up was draining to the extreme).

A last Geth unit staggered around the edge of the pad I was crouched behind and took aim at me. I didn't have time to think, and my energy reserves were at dangerously low levels, so another barrier was out of the question. I dived to the side in the same moment the Geth pulled the trigger.

Either I was very fortunate, or very crazy. Still, I couldn't avoid the shot completely. An explosion of pain ripped through my left shoulder as I landed on the ground; hard. "Gaaahhhhhhhh!" I couldn't help it: my first ever bullet wound, and I was lying on the ground yelling like an idiot.

The Geth looked down at me and took aim, but before it could fire again a discharge of electricity coursed through it and sent it toppling backwards. It lay twitching for a second or two before its "flashlight" dimmed. Kaidan walked around the corner and kicked the inert machine in disgust, his omnitool still flickering with static. He gave me a sympathetic grin and helped me to my feet.

I hissed through gritted teeth at the pain in my shoulder. Kaidan just rolled his eyes and brought out a packet of a gel-like substance, smeared it on the gash.

"Barely nicked you, Conner. Let me guess: this is your first time being shot?"

"First time being shot _at, _much less… arghhhhh," I grimaced from the unusual sensation of the medi-gel on my wound. "I've never gotten in a serious fight in my life, never mind had someone trying to _kill me._" I breathed deeply through my nose in an attempt ignore the agonized protests coming from my shoulder.

"You two okay back there?" Shepard yelled. "We've got a few workers in this unit over here; step on it!"

"We're on our way Shepard," Kaidan replied, picking up my pistol from where I had dropped it and handing it back to me. "Conner just took a little too much fire. He got hit in the shoulder."

"How bad?"

"Just a scrape Commander. He'll walk it off." The two of us walked around the landing pad to where Shepard and Ashley were interrogating a trio of terrified dock workers. I worked up the courage to actually _look _at my injury, and to my surprise Kaidan was right. It honestly wasn't that bad. Now that the shock had worn off I could see that the bullet had barely grazed me. I had received worse injuries from falling off a cement wall, and at that moment my bigger concern was growing exhaustion.

Once the dock workers had given us some supplies (and the name of a local smuggler after some subtle pressure from Shepard), we climbed up the stairs to the spaceport proper. We were then greeted with Nihlus's dead body.

At least, I _assumed _it was Nihlus. After all, I had never seen a Turian in person before. But Kaidan recognized him, saying as much. Shepard motioned for us to fan out, and I walked to the left, nursing my shoulder; still trying to block out the sting. My weapon hand was still good however, and while there was a headache developing behind my eyes it wasn't too serious. Yet.

Just then I heard the sound of something being dropped. It came from behind the crates that littered this part of the spaceport.

"Commander, something's moving back here!"

We all trained our weapons in the direction I pointed, and soon enough we were rewarded with a frantic: "Wait! Stop, don't shoot! I'm one of you; I'm human!"

\/

I sat on the cargo tram as it carried us to the other side of the spaceport, knocking my knees. Powel, the dock worker we had flushed out, had turned out to be the smuggler the other three used to bring in contraband. Ashley had not been happy to learn this (obviously), but Shepard persuaded the poor man to hand over his upgrades.

After this we (Shepard and his team, more like; I was growing to be more of a nuisance than a help) recaptured the tram station from the errant Geth stationed there (and a rather frightening encounter with a Destroyer… frightening for me, that is), and were soon speeding along to the beacon's platform.

I debated whether or not to warn Shepard about the nukes Saren had set up ahead of us, but decided against it. _Probably not a good idea. Don't want them thinking I'm a spy, or something. _Instead I fiddled around with my omnitool (once I figured out how to activate it).

Fortunately I didn't have to fumble in the dark for very long; there just so happened to be a beginner's guide still loaded. As well as a few hacking protocols that scared me. I devoured as much of the tutorial as I could before the train came to a stop at the next checkpoint, focusing on the combat applications.

I noticed a small icon in the shape of a lightning bolt that seemed to be connected to a targeting system. I pressed the icon experimentally, wondering what it did. I found out a second later, as the air in front of me cracked and sizzled with an overload burst.

I yelped, lost my balance and tipped backward off the seat to land unceremoniously on my rear. Shepard rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything (for which I was _very _grateful).

The cargo train finally stopped at the Garage area of the docks, and Shepard motioned Kaiden and Ashley to cover the stairs and walkway above us while he took a closer look at the tactical nuke Saren had set in our path.

"Conner, cover me while I disarm this! The Geth must have planted these bombs to destroy the colony!"

"How many are there?"

"My ladar is picking up four nukes in this area!" Shepard finished disarming the first one, and started running up the walkway. "We only have about four minutes, people! Step on it!"

It was a race; against the Geth, and against time. There were three other bombs to disarm, and only so long to get to each one. There were also multiple Geth in between us and the others. Every second brought us closer to a quick and gruesome end.

The second was easy enough to find, and it was behind a ledge: the other three of us kept the advancing Geth pinned so Shepard could finagle with it. That was two down; the rest wouldn't be so easy.

I glanced at my omnitool and noticed that it too had picked up the bomb's detonation timer: 1:43. I started to sweat, my gun hand shaking worse and worse all the time from the strain I was putting myself through just to keep from collapsing.

We managed to dodge around the corner to take out the third bomb, but the Geth sent in a Sniper to jam our ladar. We couldn't see where our enemies were coming from, and the bomb was off our sensor array as well.

_45 seconds. _

There wasn't time-even if we could get to the last bomb-to disarm it conventionally.

_40 seconds._

I then did something incredibly stupid.

_35 seconds._

Bellowing like a maniac, I charged forward into the midst of the Geth, shooting everywhere I could think of (except at Shepard and his team). My body glowed with an unconscious biotic barrier that bowled over any Geth that was unfortunate enough to stand in front of me.

_30 seconds._

I cleared the Geth and frantically searched for the last bomb, ignoring the outraged shouts of Shepard and his squad.

_25 seconds._

_Come on, you're around here somewhere! __**Come on!**_

_20 seconds._

There it was, behind the last support beam. I limped toward it, omnitool aiming.

_15 seconds._

I had no time to think. No time to worry I was going to hit the wrong button.

_10 seconds._

I punched the icon for overload and selected the bomb's trigger mechanism from the dropdown display.

_5 se-bomb disabled._

"Yyyyyyyesssss!" I pumped my fist into the air triumphantly, my heart pounding in my ears. The adrenaline rush didn't last long. It left as soon as it arrived, leaving me to crumble to the floor of the garage. Once again I gazed down the barrel of my imminent demise, held this time in the hands of around half-a-dozen Geth.

My head hurt so badly I couldn't even cry out. I gritted my teeth and tried to assume a semblance of bravery… though I think the only thing I managed to get across was a pained grimace.

Before any of the Geth could fire, however, every last one of them was sent flying in an explosion of biotic force and gunfire. The few that weren't knocked off the platform exploded in a blaze of whitish fluid.

Shepard had, once again, saved my ass.

The man himself stepped over the bodies and glared angrily down at me. I could only grin sheepishly up at him, still unable to move. He grabbed me by the front of my jacket and hauled me into the air.

"**Never. Do. That. Again.**" He hissed. "**What **did I tell you about not being an idiot?"

I gulped, licking lips that had gone very dry. I knew how reckless and idiotic I had been, and I also knew I was about to receive a well-deserved dressing-down.

I was still so winded that I couldn't say anything. Neither did Shepard, and for about a minute we stared at each other, nose-to-nose. His eyes blazed with anger, while I probably looked like a scared kid (which I was).

He finally set me down. And brushed me off with a grudging "Nice job, soldier. Just do me a favor and _warn _me the next time."

"Y-y-y-yes sir," I squeaked.

After that , the rest of the Geth and husks were relatively easy to mop up. But Shepard and his squad did most of the work, while I staggered blearily behind, too worn out to even complain about the pace Shepard set.

He signalled the all clear, and scanned the area to make sure we hadn't missed anything. All that was left to deal with was:

_The Beacon._

The Prothean beacon, the reason so many good people had died, was standing on the platform, looking far too innocent for all the pain it had caused. It was emitting a faint greenish haze, not quite luminescent, but just enough that it was obviously "on."

"Unbelievable. Working prothean technology," Kaidan breathed, turning back to Shepard-who was contacting the Normandy.

"I wonder what turned it on," Ashley said in wonder, bending in for a closer look. "It wasn't doing _anything _like that before."

"Uh, _yeah._" I backed up nervously. "Let's not stand too close to the glowy green object. I have a policy about not messing with something that looks radioactive."

_Too late._

Ashley scoffed and inched closer to the beacon, giving me a look that clearly said "I dare you."

The air around the beacon pulsed forward, and started to drag Ashley closer to it. I shouted and stumbled backward, crawling crabby-style away from it. Shepard, on the other hand, saw what was happening and leapt forward, grabbing Ashley by the midriff and shoving her to one side.

Which of course, left _him _in the influence of the beacon.

It was a sight I will never forget. Shepard hung suspended in midair, his body jerking convulsively. When Ashley tried to get to him, both Kaidan and I held her back by the arms.

After about five seconds (though it seemed like ages), the beacon exploded and hurled Shepard away, leaving him collapsed and unconscious on the floor. Ashley broke free and ran to his side. "Shepard!"

"Commander!" Kaidan joined her. "Shepard, are you alright?" He got no answer. I limped over to where they knelt over Shepard's inert body.

_I should have warned him…_

* * *

**And there it is. The lengths of these are probably going to vary wildly; I usually try to pick a good place to stop (try). I'll include a key/legend in the next section. Thanks.**


	4. Delay apology

**This is just an update to let you guys know that I'm still alive. This next chapter is a doosey, and I want to be able to do it justice. The Mass Effect series (minus the ending of course), The Old Republic, a recent trip out of the country, and a play have kept me really busy. Sorry this one is taking so long.**

**P.S.: Half the reason is that I keep distracting myself with future plot points. I apologize.**


	5. Those Moments Change You

**Sorry for the long delay, dear readers. I had to climb over a rather sizable writer's block before I was able to get anywhere with this one. Also, I blame ME3 multiplayer. I swear, it's not my fault!**

**"I'll just be over here, Shepard. You know: not touching anything."**

* * *

Normandy SR1

"Doctor, Dr. Chakwas! I think he's waking up!"

Shepard blearily opened his eyes to find Chief Williams and Dr. Chakwas leaning worriedly over him. He put a hand to his forehead and sat up, immediately recognizing the Normandy's medical bay.

"You had us worried there, Shepard. How are you feeling?"

He shook his head a little, trying to dispel the pulsing of a lingering headache.

"Minor throbbing… nothing too serious. How long was I out?"

"About fifteen hours."

Shepard glanced around, noticing Ashley. _Why is she here? She's not part of Normandy's crew. _Still, he was grateful for her presence, and said as much.

After going through the usual reassurances that he felt fine, Shepard noticed that he wasn't the only patient being tended to. On a stretcher on the other side of the medical bay sat the kid that had led them to Ashley, arms wrapped around his knees. _What was his name again? Oh yeah. Conner. _Shepard nodded to him encouragingly, but received only a weak grin in return, quickly replaced by nervous rocking. Though Shepard had no idea why Conner would be nervous…

"So," he finally interrupted, cutting off Chakwas's medical analysis and Ashley's worried apologies. "Any particular reason we have a crazy civilian in our med bay?" He made sure to put some humor into his voice, but Conner still gulped. The poor kid looked absolutely terrified of something.

"Captain's orders," Chakwas replied, checking her datapad and striding over to where Conner sat. "Something about 'classified intelligence leaks.' I also noticed that there seems to be some difficulty with his various implants, biotic and omnitool. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were very recently installed and that his body is close to rejecting them."

"Re-re-rejecting them?" Conner stammered, rubbing the back of his neck and breathing hard.

"I said _close to, _not actually rejecting." Chakwas tried to place a comforting hand on Conner's shoulder, but he flinched and scooted away as far as he could manage without falling off the stretcher. "In any case," Chakwas continued, "I'm recommending he be confined to the medical bay for now. He hasn't spoken about what he witnessed down there, and he's showing signs of post-traumatic stress."

Before she could elaborate, the bay door whooshed open and Captain Anderson walked in. "How's our XO holding up, doctor?"

"Well all the readings look normal; I think the Commander's going to be fine." Shepard breathed a sigh of relief. _One less thing to worry about. _He glanced over at Ashley and they exchanged grins.

"I'm more worried about our newest guest, though." Anderson's expression turned aggrieved.

"Doctor, I didn't order him to be escorted up here because of his medical concerns-"

"But you did ask that he be given the same considerations as any other soldier," Chakwas cut him off. Apparently this was a touchy issue between the two. Shepard felt very much as if he were watching a tennis match.

"He displayed knowledge of both the Normandy's systems _and _our mission when he came aboard, _both _of which are highly classified." Anderson folded his arms, sounding more cross than Shepard had ever seen him. "He could only have learned what he knows from an inside source."

"He's in no condition for an interrogation, Captain." Now Chakwas appeared to be losing her temper. Shepard had never heard her raise her voice in all his time aboard the Normandy, and it looked as though he might break that record.

"He did help us down there, sir." Shepard felt he at least owed Conner a little support. "Without him we wouldn't have gotten to Ashley when we did."

"Heh…" Conner looked away and rubbed the bridge of his nose anxiously. Shepard barely caught his whispered "Yeah…"

"I'm still not convinced that-"

"Captain, do I have to site regulation B11, section eight?" Chakwas smugly placed her hands on her hips. _The right of an Alliance medical doctor to countermand a superior's orders regarding the health of his/her charge…_

Only then did Anderson capitulate, glaring daggers at the young man who, despite his patchy knowledge, claimed to be from the past. "No. I remember how well that went over _last _time." He straitened his collar and cleared his throat. "Shepard I need to speak to you. In private."

"Then the med-bay's out of the question," Shepard laughed, gesturing at Dr. Chakwas and her patient. Conner opened his mouth, obviously having something on his mind, but seemed to think better of it. "What?" Shepard raised an eyebrow and leaned against the med-table.

"It's just…" Shepard could tell Conner was having a hard time working up the courage to speak at all. "You said you wanted to talk and… I just thought that it'd be best to get it out of the way now while we're still on-route to the Citadel-"

Shepard started, giving Conner an odd look. "Did you say where we were going, Captain?"

"No. I didn't." Anderson's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I- cripes…" Conner buried his face in his hands, mumbling "I shouldn't have said that…" _How does he know so much? _If Shepard didn't know better, he'd have thought this kid was afraid of _him._

Anderson looked at Conner, at Shepard, then back to Conner. Then he sighed, and offered his arm to Dr. Chakwas.

"We'll leave you two alone for a minute. I'll debrief you both-" he pointed his chin at Ashley, who saluted and chose that moment to follow them out. "-Once you're done."

That said, Anderson closed the door behind him and left Shepard alone with Conner. Seconds passed. Then a minute. And still Conner said nothing. He looked at the walls of the med-bay, not meeting Shepard's eyes. Finally he unfolded himself from his fetal pose and set his feet gingerly on the floor, almost as if he was afraid it might disappear.

_What is he so afraid of? _For the life of him, Shepard couldn't figure out why Conner was acting so scared. The kid stared around at the bay, touching the stretchers and the wall. He crouched down and put his hands on the sterile floor, shaking his head and whispering "Real. This is real."

"What's the problem?" Shepard asked. "You're acting like you've never been on a starship before." _Couldn't be._ Conner looked up at him with a rueful expression. "You're kidding." Conner shook his head.

"I'm not." Conner slowly stood, his gaze downcast. But it didn't appear as though the _ship _was what he was afraid of. It almost seemed like… like he was afraid of what he had to say_. _Of Shepard.

"Whatever you want to say to me, say it. I think you owe me an explanation, Mr. _Time Traveler."_

"Yeah, about that…" Conner shuffled his feet. "It… isn't the whole truth."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh?" Shepard drew the word out. Conner nodded, looking decidedly uncomfortable. "I'm waiting," Shepard added, crossing his arms and tapping a finger.

Conner's eyes met the floor again, and he took several deep breaths. He raised his head with his eyes closed, and let all the air out of his lungs. Shepard just stood there, completely mystified.

"Do you play video games, Commander?"

Shepard blinked. _Where did _that _come from? _"A little, when I was growing up," he said slowly. "What exactly does that have to do with-"

"Everything." Conner clenched his fists and bit his lip. Shepard could tell he was mentally stealing himself. "What would you do if you suddenly found yourself…" -_kid looks like he's close to hyperventilating-_"Inside the world of your favorite video game?"

Silence. Dead silence. Shepard couldn't believe he was hearing this. _A _videogame? _There's no way…_ He uncrossed his arms and stared at Conner. The implications started trickling into his mind one by one. None of them were particularly pleasant.

"Are you _implying _that this-" he gestured around him, indicating (more or less) reality

"To me is a videogame. Or at least it was…" Conner started to talk very fast, as if he was relieved to have finally said it. "Until I crashed the car I was driving. Then the car turned into a fighter, and that _thing _shot me down and then you guys came along and-"

"All right, _hold it._" Shepard grabbed him by the shoulder. "You're telling me… that this universe is just: a **videogame?** How is that even _possible?"_

"I don't know!" Conner started shaking. "I don't know how I _got _here, I don't know if this is _real, _all I know is that Commander** effing **Shepard is staring me in the face and I'm on _the Normandy _and we're _in space!"_

Shepard counted slowly. He spoke again only when he was certain he could do so without scaring the kid shitless: "If what you say is true… then who is the player character?" He knew enough about video games to consider that much.

Conner swallowed. Hard. He looked Shepard straight in the eye and said one word:

"You."

I was screwed. Completely, utterly, _totally, _screwed. I had just told Shepard, _the _Shepard, my hero, that this world, _his world, _was a fabrication. An illusion. Nothing to me but pixels on a screen.

That's without mentioning the fact that _Shepard _was-

"How… how much control did you have of me?" Shepard whispered through clenched teeth. "What kind of game was it?"

"It… was-well-IS a role-playing shooter game. The player could customize your combat specialization, appearance…" I stopped for a second when Shepard put a hand to his forehead, and plunged on. "military reputation and… and homeworld."

Shepard froze. I knew just what that meant. But nothing could have prepared me for what I suspected was coming.

Growling savagely Shepard slammed me against the wall of the med-bay, forearm pressing down on my windpipe. "_Mindoir? _You chose-" through the roaring in my ears I could hear him breathing heavily. "-that I lose _everyone I cared about? _My entire _childhood?_"

My vision started to go red at the edges. I couldn't breathe, and I certainly wasn't strong enough to fend Shepard off. I tried anyway to catch even a small ounce of oxygen and convey to him how much guilt I felt without being able to speak. Seconds passed, then a minute. Flashes of light sparked in front of me, Shepard holding my life in his hands all the while.

A split second before I lost consciousness he released me, taking a step back, fists clenched. I collapsed onto my hands and knees, head throbbing and throat far worse than that. I clutched it and gulped down as much air as I could with a bruised Adam's apple, only able to sputter out the random "Didn't… wasn't… never… sorry…"

Shepard knelt before me and grabbed the front of my shirt. He shoved me against the wall again, his face consumed with the most terrifying wrath I had ever seen on a human face.

"Knowledge of the future is dangerous. I know that. But you are. Going. To. Tell. Me. Everything."

I inhaled raggedly a few times, then I did. I told him. Not what was going to happen (he didn't seem to want or expect that), but the mechanics. When Mass Effect started, and how long it was. The kinds of decisions I was able to make through him (not going into the _actual _decisions), the companion system, how I knew so much and so little at the same time.

Shepard just listened. A couple of times he jerked as if surprised or intrigued, but for the most part he didn't move a muscle. The fist that held me pinned to the wall (chest this time; I needed air to speak) was immovable as a stone pillar, and felt as hard.

I finally ran out of things I could tell him without compromising the flow of time (as best I could tell obviously), and fell silent. The two of us remained crouched on the floor for what seemed like hours, staring into each others' faces.

Shepard's fist slowly unclenched from my shirt and he stood up, his eyes staring straight forward and seeming to see right through the wall. Having lost the capacity (or motivation) to move, my head drooped onto my chest.

"It won't make things better, I know… but for what it's worth, I'm sorry," I whimper, a single tear crawling down my face. "I would _never _have put you through _any _of that if I knew-"

"You couldn't have." Shepard cut me off, breathing deeply through his nose. He looked down at me with an expression that I could easily have mistaken for hatred. "Like you said, you had no way of knowing… _Mass Effect_" he spat the words out "was real." He grabbed me by the shirt again and hauled me to my feet, as my legs weren't responding.

"You… you believe me?" I doubted that he would ever be able to take anything I said at face value.

"Given everything else that's happened, right now your story is the only one that fits the facts." He forced me to look straight into his eyes. "_For now._"

I gulped, wondering what other kind of cockadoodle alibi could possibly account for what was happening to me.

Shepard let me go and walked over to Dr. Chakwas's desk, leaning heavily onto it and staring into space again. I couldn't exactly work up the courage to make another move or sound, so I let him think (at least I _thought_ that's what he was doing).

He seemed to make up his mind after a moment and turned back to me. "Since you don't have a place to go right now," I realize this in the same moment. "I'm going to offer you a deal."

"All right?"

Shepard's voice grew, if possible, even deadlier. "Be useful. Get straightened out, and in fighting shape. Join the 'squad,' and _try_ not to screw up. Do that," he took a step forward, a medical needle in his hand. "And I _might _not commit you to an insane asylum."

My eyes widened, and my heartbeat pounded in my ears. That he would, I had absolutely no doubt. None of the Shepards alignments made idle threats. And given all that I had experienced, there was a high probability that I _was _off my mental rocker.

I closed my eyes, and considered. There was some appeal to allowing myself to be imprisoned in a nut house: free (not to mention regular) food, lodging, and (if I was lucky) no one would be shooting at me.

But of course no one else knew what I knew: the Reapers were coming. And I also had no desire to go stir-crazy, and likely legit-crazy in some ward while the galaxy burned around me.

I gathered what little nerve I had left. "What should I tell everyone else?"

Shepard glared at me for a couple of seconds, searching my face for I-didn't-know-what. "You figure it out."

My stomach clenched. Then I spoke the fatal words. "I accept your offer." I reached out my hand, then remembered who I was _supposed _to be. "Uh, Sir!"

"Good." Shepard's voice made it sound anything but. "We dock at the Citadel in five hours. I want you ready to go by then."

_Should be easy. I'm wearing everything I own._

Shepard walked past me, ignoring my outstretched hand completely. I placed my hands on my legs and exhaled shakily. Then I noticed my pants.

"Um… Commander?"

Shepard was almost to the med-bay door when he turned around with a curt "What?"

"Where's the bathroom?"

* * *

**So there you have it. The implausible beginings of a hero's journey. Here's hoping he doesn't just end up a glorified Conrad Verner. Feedback of any species is appreciated, and I look forward to continuing this journey with you, the readers.**


	6. An attempt at Elcor Humor

The Citadel: Ambassador Udina's office on the Presidium

"This is an outrage! The Council would step in if the Geth attacked a _Turian _colony…"

I listened with only half my brain to the debate raging between Udina (who had **not** been happy to be introduced to Shepard and his ground team; which to my chagrin included me) and the Council via holograms. The rest of my attention was captured by-wonder of wonders-_The Presidium._

I could best describe it as standing on the outer inside edge of a hollow doughnut, which made me hungry just thinking about it. A great lake stretched out below, while a simulated sky arched above. The whole place was blazing white and silver, broken by the occasional cherry tree in a small plot of soil.

The whole place was amazing, but underneath all of it was a very, _very _slight sense of unreality, as if nothing could be this perfect. Something set my teeth on edge, like an undertone that didn't quite jive with the rest of the music. It took me a couple of seconds to shake off the majesty of the place, but I finally figured out _why _the Citadel unnerved me: the station was a trap. A Reaper trap.

My mind was suddenly filled with the voice of Admiral Ackbar.

All this passed through my head in the minutes it took for the conversation behind me to shift back to include Shepard and his team.

"And I'm _still _waiting to hear why there is a _civilian _on your ground team, Commander!"

"He can explain that better than I, Ambassador. Conner? Conner!" I felt Shepard tap me on the shoulder and jumped about a foot in the air (as the gravity was slightly less than I was used to) before turning around and straitening the collar of my jacket.

I had had a chance to take stock of, well; _myself_ after Shepard had left me standing in the Normandy's med bay. After asking for and finding the restroom behind some panels on the crew deck I visited the requisitions officer down in the cargo hold (apparently he doubled as the quartermaster) and received a few changes of uniform. How he figured out my size I didn't know, but he had managed to get me decked out in an Alliance standard uniform, same as most other crew members save for color scheme: pilots' jumpsuits were black accented with dark blue.

The only thing that had come with me from my previous existence had been my underpants, which needed replacing after my dressing-down. I now stood in one of those uniforms and a spare leather waist-length jacket one of the engineers had tossed aside.

I saluted Udina smartly, suppressing the urge to gulp-though I couldn't do a thing about the sweat gathering on my forehead.

"Corporal Conner Donavan, ambassador. Operations liaison between the Eden Prime 212 marine regiment and Alliance special operations."

After hashing out a few ideas with Shepard (mostly me talking; he hadn't exactly been very forthcoming at the time) I had decided to take on the role of an undercover agent stationed at Eden Prime. No idea how, but when Shepard and I presented this to Anderson he accepted it (grudgingly of course).

And had _approved _my transfer to the Normandy's crew roster. Which somehow didn't make me feel any better.

"Indeed."

Udina-excuse me, _Ambassador _Udina- scratched his chin pensively, looking me up and down with an unreadable expression. I clenched my teeth and kept my face as neutral as I could, knowing full well how big of a jackass this man would prove to be.

Udina's voice took on a hard edge.

"I think we have more pressing matters at hand, otherwise I would protest you bringing an unarmed civilian on this, Anderson."

Anderson merely crossed his arms behind him. "That was Shepard's call, and I trust his judgment."

"Be that as it may," Udina started pacing angrily. "The Council has already finalized the investigation into Saren's activities and is ready to meet with us for the hearing. Though they were not happy about it,"

I snorted. Udina gave me a scathing look before continuing.

"Saren is one of their best agents, and it's going to be murder to find any kind of evidence to support our accusations." He spared a derisive look at Shepard, who had been watching casually the entire time. "It's probable that they might use this as an excuse to keep _you _out of the Spectres."

Shepard rolled his eyes. "I'm not doing this for a _promotion, _Udina. I'm doing this to stop Saren."

"Settle down, Commander. You're in enough hot water already."

Udina abruptly turned his back to us and strode over to his desk. Sitting down and starting up a holographic computer screen (causing my eyes to nearly bulge out of my head), he spoke again.

"I assume you lot can find your way to the Citadel Tower. That's where the meeting is taking place. I'll meet you there."

_Wait… if he's sitting there, how exactly is he going to beat us to the tower? _This had always confused me… but then again teleportation was a rather common phenomena in games, so I didn't think much of it. At the time at least.

Looking around at the hallway outside the office, I noticed an enormous grey alien with a weird contraption on its back walking slowly through the doorway on the right. I recognized the telltale monotone voice of an Elcor from him and from inside the room.

Curious, I peeked my head in and took in my first sighting of a Volus, two Elcor (one behind his/her desk, the other having just entered), and an insect-like Keeper in one corner.

"Do you realize what you're saying," stated the Elcor ambassador to the recently entered fellow. "These allegations are very serious. I can't just-"

"This _is _serious," the other interjected. "I spoke to the Consort alone, and in confidence. And she betrayed that confidence."

I failed to notice-having been eavesdropping on the organic HK-47s- that the volus ambassador had waddled up to me and was glaring at me. Or at least I _think _he was; being in an envirosuit made it hard to tell.

_Gasp-"_Human, you are lost, I think." _Gasp-_"_Your_ ambassador is next door, in the _large _office."

"Oh, uh…" I was at a loss for words. Dealing with blatant eavesdropping had never come up before, and besides this was the first time in my life I had _ever _been addressed by an _alien_.

"I was just, um, looking around, and… well,"

"There a problem here, Corporal?" Shepard said from behind me. I turned around, relieved to have an escape route, but the Volus cut in before I could say anything.

"Your young friend here was just listening in on a very" _Gasp _"Private conversation, Earth-clan."

"Was he," Shepard drawled, glancing over at me with a raised eyebrow."

"Chastising remark: Do not be so rude, Din. I'm sure he didn't mean any offense." The Elcor ambassador apparently was on my side, for all the good it would do.

Shepard strode forward and engaged the two ambassadors in conversation while I walked up to the other Elcor (who I remembered going by the name Xeltan).

"I wasn't trying to overhear your conversation. I'm sorry if I seemed rude."

Xeltan shook his head. "Distracted: It is all right. It was not your intention to compromise my authority. Unlike the Asari consort…" He trailed off.

"What do you mean?"

"Frankly: The matter is too sensitive to disclose." I couldn't really read his expression either, obviously. "If you wish to visit her, the consort can be found across the bridge to the East. Her offices are easy enough to spot. Good day human."

_What was that about? _I wondered. Then I kicked myself (mentally, of course.). _Oh right, the whole snafu between Shi'ira and General Orahka._

It didn't take long for Shepard to finish his conversation with Din and Calyn (the Elcor ambassador), and soon the four of us (Kaidan and Ashley had waited outside) were walking down the "street" toward the Citadel Tower access elevator. After having consulted a virtual map and Avina, the local tour guide, that is.

I was still reeling from seeing a virtual intelligence first-hand when Shepard tapped me on the shoulder again.

"So what was that all about, back there?"

"Oh, something about a problem the Elcor diplomat was having with someone called 'The Consort,'" I replied, trying to sound casual. Shepard wasn't buying it, needless to say, and gave me a look that said clearly 'Is this something you know that will impact us?'

I nodded silently, and went back to staring at the scenery.

* * *

"I can't believe they ignored all the evidence against Saren!"

Our meeting with the Council had gone predictably obtuse. I slumped against the far wall of the elevator (suppressing the swooshing sensation coursing through me) and stuck my hands into the pockets of my jacket.

"What evidence?" I murmered. Shepard promptly gave me a solid WHAP upside the head.

"Sorry, sorry." I rubbed the back of my head and said ruefully "Why do I get the feeling that's going to be a 'thing' with you?"

Shepard only smirked evilly.

I went back to staring at the elevator wall and tried not to interrupt Ashley and Kaiden as they debated the best way to implicate an erstwhile Turian Spectre. And given how big the Citadel was, the ride down was turning out to be a lengthy one. I glanced back at Shepard.

He seemed… I don't know if pensive is the right word to describe him at any time, but he didn't look as angry as he was when he was ready to kill me. I hoped. He watched his subordinates' argument with a detachment that I envied. He spoke only when we stepped off the elevator and back onto the presidium.

"Anderson gave us two courses of action, and I for one am not inclined to let either one go to waste." He stroked his chin thoughtfully and came to a decision.

"Williams, Alenko. I want you two to go ahead of us and see what you can get out of that Volus merchant the Captain mentioned. Barla Von." Ash and Kaiden nodded. "Donovan and I will head down to this 'Chora's Den.' But first," he turned back to me and grabbed me by the arm as we separated into twos. "We need to get the rookie suited up."

Shepard dragged me over one of the many bridges that littered this part of the presidium and in the general direction of the markets. Something caught my eye about half-way across, and I stopped for a moment to make sense of it.

Though I'd seen a Mass relay often enough in the loading screens, the sculpture that stood before us still took my breath away. The miniature relay stood on its end in the middle of the lake, unmoving. As I edged closer, I started to hear a subtle hum that vibrated in the base of my chest as if a French horn was blowing in my ear.

This, then, was the conduit. The back door onto the Citadel that Saren so ardently sought; and no one but me had any clue.

"Hoi! There'll be time for sight-seeing later, 'Corporal.'" I jumped for the third time that hour, and jogged over to Shepard shaking my head.

"Sorry, Shepard." He slowly turned and gave me a glare that would have put ice into the Illusive Man's soul. "Oh, er… Commander."

Shepard nodded ominously and walked briskly over to the set of kiosks on the Presidium's other side. I gave a mental "Whew," and followed along sheepishly. I hadn't gone three paces when a voice accosted me on the right.

"This one is pleased to see the other. Would it care to observe what this one has to offer?"

I glanced over, intending to respond, but I couldn't see whoever it was that had addressed me. None of the assorted Asari, Turians, or Salarians looked as though they were particularly interested, and the only thing in front of me was a set of curious pink pillars.

Shepard strode up to me and tapped my shoulder. "Look up."

I followed his advice and found myself staring face to… well, body, I suppose with a Hanar. I had completely forgotten.

"Oh, um… thanks, I'll take a look and see if I can't find something." I glance around for a moment or two before finally locating the Hanar's kiosk interface. I scrolled through the selection and decided to concentrate for now on a hard-suit. Names blinked past, some looking highly advanced and protective, but I seriously doubted I could handle anything other than the lightest armor.

Onyx, Hydra, Explorer, Assassin… just then a single label popped out at me. I don't know why, maybe it was just the color scheme, but excellent shielding, adaptive amp interfaces, and reasonable mobility decided me.

"I'll take the set of light Guardian armor." Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"You sure, Donovan? There are better armors on this list."

"I don't want to clean out our budget, sir." I reply. "Besides, I'm going to need all the help I can get figuring my tactics out. I don't want something that's going to weigh me down or overwhelm me with added features."

Shepard glanced at the specs of the armor I had chosen, then activated his omnitool. "It's your choice, Corporal. Any weapon selections yet?"

"Not so far," I mutter, thanking the hanar (I think his name was Dela'minder, or something like that.) "Everything here is high-end complicated stuff. I need something slightly more basic that I can improve over time."

I had given careful consideration into the kind of gun I felt would be most appropriate, and had decided that for now I would focus on just one or two weapons. Starting with a heavy pistol.

But none of the pistols offered by the hanar had struck me as particularly memorable. So I took another look around the marketplace and started to walk off again.

This, apparently, was the well-to-do shopping area. There didn't seem to be anywhere that stocked a basic pistol, or a basic _anything _for that matter. I was about to give up when my shins collided with something rotund and squishy.

"'Wheeze' Watch where you're going, 'wheeze' Earth-clan."

I looked down at the second Volus I had ever seen, clad in a deep red and brown envirosuit. He picked himself off the floor and glared up at me, nursing what I assumed was the Volus equivalent of a bruised posterior.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." I said hastily. _Not that I would have seen him in time, being so tall to his short._

The little fellow brushed himself off and waved a pudgy, three-digit hand in my general direction. "'Wheeze' No matter, I get that a lot. 'Wheeze' I couldn't help but overhear that you're in the market for 'Wheeze' basic weapons?"

Shepard folded his arms and glared down at the Volus. "What if we are? And may we have your name before you try to sell us anything."

"Oh, 'Wheeze' of course!" The volus proudly drew himself up to his considerable two-and-a-half feet or so. "The name's Nel Jory, purveyor of goods 'Wheeze' not necessarily appealing to the 'Wheeze' general populace."

Shepard grabbed me by the jacket-collar and hauled me to one side, muttering "Black market dealer," out of the corner of his mouth.

"Most likely." I agreed, glancing back at Jory, who to his credit was making an effort to appear as though he wasn't listening in. "But even if most of his stock is glorified varren crap, we could still take a look."

I turned back to the volus merchant and examined his holographic catalogue. As I expected most of the items were grossly over-valued, but before I could write the dealer off as a con artist I noticed something.

"Hey, you still have that M-5 Phalanx in stock?"

"'Wheeze' Eh? The one not in mass 'Wheeze' production yet? Of course. Here, take a 'Wheeze' look."

Now, ordinarily I wouldn't have been inclined to get suckered into anything, but given the versatility of the phalanx and its natural stopping power, I nodded. "That's what I'm looking for."

"Certainly, 'Wheeze' Earth clan." Shepard forked the credits over to Jory's omnitool, and the volus handed me my first weapon. I weighed it in my hand, noting the open modification slots.

"A pleasure 'Wheeze' doing business with 'Wheeze' you, Earth clan."

"And you as well, Jory." I collapsed my new Phalanx and attached it to the magnetic clamps on my right hip. Somehow, even though I was a piss-poor shot, I felt a little better knowing I had a weapon of my own. The responsibilities were another matter entirely…


	7. My stomach: He's-a talkin' to me!

Okey dokey, folks! I'm back, and in case you hadn't noticed; the previous chapter has been updated! Yes, you lucky viewers get two; count em **two** chapters for the price of one! Merry Christmas, and a happy post-end-of-the-world!

Oh, and disclaimer-disclaimer, blah blah... my sole copywrite in this is myself... meh.

* * *

The Citadel; Outside Sha'ira's

**Zap!**

"_Yeaouch!" _I gingerly massaged my aching finger, having poked my new pistol in a place it wasn't supposed to be poked.

"Yeesh, you'd think in two centuries they would've figured out how to deal with static," I muttered. Sticking the offending finger into my mouth, I glanced around. I was sitting against the wall outside of Sha'ira's establishment, waiting for Shepard to finish speaking with its namesake. I had therefore decided to familiarize myself with my phalanx.

To my credit I had a pretty good handle on where everything was in the general vicinity. However, I also realized that the Citadel was a _lot _bigger than I had anticipated.

I was garnering a lot of stares from the various Turians, Salarians, and humans in the area, so I stopped sucking my finger, holstered the pistol and crossed my arms with a huff. _How long is Shepard going to take? _He'd been in there almost fifteen minutes, and we needed to get moving. I decided that sitting there on the floor wasn't a productive idea and stood, stretching my arms.

One of the keepers had been working on a console beside me, and apparently finished whatever it had been doing in time to stomp point blank on my foot on its merry little blasted oblivious way. I hopped on my smarting foot and resisted the urge to cuss.

As it was a _keeper, _however, I could have gotten in serious trouble for clocking it on its smug little mandibles, so I contented myself with sticking my tongue out at it. A little childish, perhaps; I hadn't eaten or slept in the past twenty hours or so, and I wasn't used to deprivation in either state.

I examined the other side of the Presidium for the umpteenth time, noting that the graphics engine from the first game couldn't do this place justice. There was the Human ambassador's office, right next to a small café. And something I hadn't noticed before; in the same area were the offices of the three Councilors, which hadn't been there the last time I had played.

_Of course, _I thought ruefully. _It's not going to be an exact replica. It's a real place. _I sighed mournfully. I knew then and there I was probably going to get lost at some point or other.

Something caught my eye as I turned back to look at the embassies; the Turian clerk serving the same kind of function as Saphiria for the Councilor's offices appeared to be in a heated argument with an alien species I didn't recognize. I squinted, trying to make out the other figure. _Too slight to be an elcor, too tall for a volus, not pink enough for a hanar… _There were no head fringes, so that ruled out pretty much everything else.

The individual threw up its hands in evident frustration and started to stalk off, heavily favoring its arm. My breath caught in my throat when my brain finally caught up with my eyes: Three fingers… purple hood… bowed legs… _envirosuit-_

_Tali._

I ran as fast as I could over the bridge, yelling "Hoi! Hold on a second!" I hadn't gotten half-way there when I tripped over my own still-stinging foot and landed on my face on the floor. By the time I had jumped back up again she was long gone, vanished into the shadows of the Presidium. I desperately scanned the slope of the embassies, trying to figure out where she had gone.

"Can I help you, human?" The Turian clerk obviously didn't have any clue what had just happened. I stared at him while my breath returned to normal levels, then spat: "Me? What about _her?!"_ I pointed in the direction Tali had gone.

"Who, the suit-rat?" The Turian said loftily. "It was trying to con its way into the embassies. No doubt casing the place-"

"_IT'S!?" _I slammed my fist into the Turian's desk. "_SHE _is a _PERSON, _you jackass!" The Turian just looked over the top of his datapad and smirked.

"Incomprehensible insults will get you nowhere. If you have a problem with public policy-"

"Public- _IS IT PUBLIC POLICY TO IGNORE AN INJURED WOMAN?!" _I seethed. "What was that anyway, a gunshot wound?!" My mind flashed to a tidbit of info Tali had divulged in the third game: "And _POLONIUM ROUNDS?! _The _hell _were you thinking?!"

"I don't have to justify our practices to you, _human._" The Turian spat, looking thoroughly fed up with me. But I wasn't finished. I was tired, hungry, nauseous from all those _damned _elevators, and frankly couldn't care less what some stuck up clerk would sanction me with.

"Howsabout justifying threatening to kick a _Quarian _off the station while injured!" I snarled. I wasn't in a particularly observant mood or I would have caught the heavy boot falls behind me. "You use her _species _as an excuse to write her off as a worthless thief, and expect me to just stand by and '_gauhk"_

That last bit was me gagging on my shirt collar as someone lifted me into the air and set me down none too gently beside them. "I'm sure he didn't mean any offense, sir." Lucky for me, it was Shepard. Unluckily for me, my mouth was still on overdrive.

"And I'm _certain I DID." _I rasped, rubbing my throat.

"_Corporal Donovan," _Shepard said warningly. I looked at him, the turian clerk, and back again.

"_Fine," _I growled, sticking my hands in my pockets. "I'm done dealing with this… this…" a portion of the Turians' Wikipedia page flashed in front of my eyes, and I grinned wickedly. "Bare-faced _schutta."_

The Turian blanched. "You take that back," he breathed.

"Only if you call that Quarian and apologize for insulting her people." I shot back defiantly. Two seconds later Shepard had to grab me by the collar again, placing himself between me and the clerk. This was likely the only thing that kept the two of us from throttling each other.

"All right, _ALL RIGHT. _Both of you calm down." Shepard gave me a glare that promised nothing good, and let go of the Turian when he had settled back into his chair, straitening his suit. "I'll deal with him," Shepard said to the clerk. He motioned me off to the side and gave me an appraising look when it became obvious I still wasn't done fuming.

"Do I really have to ask what that was about?"

"Nothing, Commander." I said sullenly, refusing to look him in the eye. "Just some racist jerk who couldn't be bothered to help an injured fugitive."

Shepard's eyes narrowed, and he whapped me upside the head. "And what does that have to do with us?"

"What does- Everything!" I paced in front of him. "Tali has intel we need to implicate Saren, and that _schutta _of a Turian just…" what I just said sunk in a moment later.

"'Tali?' You know this Quarian?" He glared pointedly at me. I gulped. _Oops. _Me and my big mouth.

"'Sigh' It's a long story." Before I could get any further though, my stomach made a very audible protest that sounded suspiciously like "_Fooooood."_

Shepard shook his head in exasperation. "Let's just head over to Chora's Den. Maybe you can grab something while we interrogate Harkin." I grimace slightly. "Yeah. _That'll _be fun." Shepard walked over to one of the rapid transit air-cars and added over his shoulder "And would you mind explaining what a '_schutta' _is?"

* * *

Rapid Transit pad; Zakera Ward market upper level

"Next time," I urped, stumbling off the air-car and onto the bustling Zakera street. "Can we _please_ use the stairs…" I covered my mouth and hiccupped slightly. Shepard just laughed. I glared at him.

"What, don't tell me you're afraid of heights." Shepard said. "No, just your driving," I answered. I counted myself lucky that we'd taken the air-car _before_ I'd gotten anything to eat. Otherwise I'd be repeating my performance of Eden Prime, and I doubted I'd get any applause.

Shepard punched me lightly on the arm and dialed up his comm. unit. "Williams, Alenko: how's the Volus banker working out?"

"_Just found his offices, Shepard."_ Kaiden's voice sounded harried. "_Man, you wouldn't _believe _the size of this place."_

"I would, actually." Shepard said sardonically. "The Corporal here," I had to resist the urge to stick my tongue out. "Nearly got us lost haring off after some random Quarian he had a crush on."

I felt my face grow hot enough to fry a thresher egg. "I do _NOT _have a crush on her." _I mean, _really. _Reading _that _out of such a little-_

"Oh ho, a _she _is it?" My face started to burn even harder, if that was possible. Shepard elbowed me in the ribs with a casual "You sly dog."

"I'm just going to stop talking now," I mutter. I started to walk off, gazing determinedly at the floor, but soon enough I ran headlong into somebody going the opposite direction. I steady myself by grabbing the front of the other person's shirt and look up just in time to see a human with blonde hair and a goatee gape behind me and exclaim "Wow, Commander Shepard?!"

_Oh no. _I groaned to myself. It was Conrad. We'd be there all day if this kept up, and my empty stomach was still complaining. It must have seemed trite to worry about food, what with everything else that was going on, but hey. I was hungry.

"_Commanderrrrrrrrrrrr? _I moan plaintively over my shoulder. He rolled his eyes, lightly nudged me to one side and addressed Conrad.

"Can I help you, sir? And could you make it quick, or my young friend here might just starve." He pointed a thumb at me and smirked. Apparently he wasn't over the "mock Conner" phase of our (admittedly tenuous) relationship.

"Huh? Oh!" Conrad bounced a little, and held up a purple paper (I assumed) sack with a goofy grin. "I have some extra from the Fish-Dog Food Shack! My date must have forgotten the time."

In the end, Conrad walked away with Shepard's autoprint and I was left standing there with a "stood up" fast-food sack, my mouth hanging open. _'Date must have forgotten the time…' Uh huh. _I looked into the sack, at Shepard, and back again. "Do I _really_ want to know what's in here?" Knowing my luck it was probably varren skewers.

Shepard sniffed my newfound meal delicately and said "Hey, it's gotta be better than our military rations. You said you were hungry." He gave me an evil grin and walked down the stairs. "_Bon Appetite."_

"Aheheh," I wheezed sheepishly, trudging along behind him. I steeled myself and opened the sack to find one end of a stick poking out. _Eoh. Please don't be varrenpleasedon'tbevarrenpleasedon'tbevarrenpleasedon'tbevarrenpleasedon'tbevarren- _I gingerly pull the stick (and contents) out to find: squid. Or something that closely resembled squid, at least it had tentacles and suckers, despite being a rather neon shade of pink and green.

I contemplate it for a moment or two as we walk through the marketplace towards Morlan's shop, hoping desperately it wasn't for dextros. _Not likely to get anything more anytime soon. _I finally work up my nerve and bite into it:

**Carunch!**

_Ow. _That hurt. _Just how long ago did Conrad buy this?!_ I work my jaw despondently on the shattered remains of my teeth (not really; it just felt like it), and followed Shepard past Morlan and into an alleyway, muttering "Bleuhg. Hanar shish-kebab. Brilliant."

I stick another piece into my mouth, but before I could start chewing I heard two things: One, from my left: Shepard yelling "Conner! GET DOWN!" and from my front: two Turians shouting "That's him!"

I stood there, framed nicely in the alley by Chora's den, with two rifles pointed at me, and my only weapon a steaming mouthful of kebab.

Have I mentioned it hasn't been my day?

* * *

Okay, so I forgot to warn you guys that I replaced the last update with an actual chapter. So sue me. Actually, forget I said that. I can't afford it. Please R&R, you guys are 3/4ths of the reason I do this.


	8. I'm Sorryyyyyyyyy! And preview

**I apologize profusely for dropping off the face of the internet for a while. Here's a little sneak peek to keep you guys drooling until I finish chapter seven.**

**Oh and sorry for not responding to all the fantastic reviews.**

"Don't move!"

I froze. "Okay, not moving."

"I mean it! You so much as twitch and she won't be seeing any more patients!" He now had Dr. Michel around the throat, holding the muzzle of his pistol to her head.

"I said I wasn't moving, sheesh." I deliberately avoided looking at Shepard. The thug motioned one of his cronies to make sure I didn't cause any trouble. He apparently hadn't gotten the memo that I was the least of his problems.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a grey head with blue face-paint. I kept my hands in plain sight until the mercenary was within arm's reach. I then proceeded with another of my stupid ideas.

A gunshot cracked through the air.

**Hee hee hee…**


End file.
